Modern Muslim Objections to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī

Abstract

Abstract According to most Sunnī scholars of ḥadīth, two works can be considered sources for historically accurate and authentic reports about the words and actions of the Prophet Muḥammad, the Ṣaḥīḥ of al-Bukhārī and the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, frequently referred to in union as the Ṣaḥīḥayn. These two works have achieved canonical status in Sunnī Islam. The narrators who appear in these collections and the content of what they report are popularly considered to be unassailable. However, the authenticity and historicity of such ḥadīth have been subject to severe criticism and skepticism by a number of Western academics beginning with Gustav Weil in 1848 and continuing with Ignaz Goldziher, Joseph Schacht, John Wansbrough and others. A few academics have alluded to the existence of a similar skepticism among Muslim modernists, but there has been little systematic study of these voices. A handful of twentieth century Muslims have openly objected to the canonical culture of sanctifying ḥadīth found in the Ṣaḥīḥayn with books lambasting their authenticity. This investigation reviews seven of these works and considers key themes in their methods of argumentation. The authors not only deny the authenticity of ḥadīth in the collections of al-Bukhārī and Muslim, but also reject key doctrines associated with classical Sunnism and the authority of Sunnī ḥadīth scholars who traditionally defined orthodoxy and evaluated ḥadīth on behalf of the community.